Rebirth: Making a Fortune in Ancient Times

The other ladies, though not laughing out loud, were struggling to hold back. They wondered if this young master Zhang really came from the countryside; even his insults were so utterly unspeakable. Seeing the uncontrollable laughter on the faces of the surrounding ladies, Madam Fu felt both ashamed and angry.

Just as she was about to lose her temper, she saw her maid nod slightly at her. Suppressing her anger, she spoke to her daughter...

"Fen'er, don't cry. You are a person of status, don't stoop to the level of those ill-mannered people." As she said this, she glanced sideways at Xia Yu and Shen Luo.

She was convinced that Xia Yu and Shen Luo had no powerful connections, which is why she dared to make veiled accusations against them in front of everyone, calling them ill-mannered. Having been here for so long, apart from the poorly dressed clerk's mother speaking to them, she hadn't seen any other lady show any affection towards the siblings.

Hearing this, Xia Yu's expression turned serious; this was clearly a dig at her parents. She was about to retort when her gaze fell upon Jiang Shi, whose face was unusually grim. After a moment's thought, she swallowed her words of rebuttal. She wanted to see how Jiang Shi, who had always ignored Shen Luo, would react now that someone was questioning Shen Luo's upbringing.

Madam Jiang's face was very unpleasant. Although she disliked Shen Luo, her illegitimate son, she was still his mother and had a responsibility to raise him. For Madam Fu to say in front of so many people that Shen Luo was ill-mannered was practically an insult to her. Moreover, although these people didn't know that Shen Luo was her son now, this matter couldn't be kept secret sooner or later. When that time came, everyone would say that she, as the legitimate mother, mistreated her illegitimate son, allowing him to be publicly humiliated without standing up for him.

Just as she was about to speak, Madam Fu suddenly exclaimed "Oh dear!" interrupting Jiang's words.

"what happened?"

"what happened?"

Everyone started asking Madam Fu, wondering what she was up to now.

Where did my ring go?

Upon hearing that she had lost something, the people gathered around quickly took two steps back and bent down to help her search on the ground.

Xia Yu rolled her eyes helplessly after hearing her words. The TV series was right; in ancient times, the ladies of wealthy families would use the loss of things to frame people.

She knew this was going to happen when that girl secretly slipped something onto her. Luckily, she had her spatial storage and used her consciousness to check the gold and gemstone ring lying safely inside. If she wanted to frame someone, she could at least use something nice, this junk—who did she think she was? Her eldest daughter had several rings like that.

"Go and fetch a few lamps to help Madam Fu search carefully," Madam Jiang instructed the maid beside her in a deep voice.

“Yes, yes, everyone spread out a bit, let the maids search carefully with lanterns,” Madam Zhou said to the other ladies.

Five or six maids, carrying lanterns, squatted on the ground and searched inch by inch, but they couldn't find a trace of the ring.

"Sister Hu, did you drop it somewhere else? There isn't one here. Is it possible that you dropped it in the flower hall or on the carriage?" A lady who was a close friend of Madam Fu kindly reminded her.

"Impossible. I touched Fen'er just now when I heard her crying; she was still there." She held out her well-maintained hand.

“This ring was a gift from Emperor Saint De Longyou to my grandmother. She gave it to me when I got married, and I have worn it on my hand ever since. Look at my hand.”

Using the lantern in the maid's hand, everyone looked at her hand. Sure enough, there was a very obvious ring mark on her left middle finger, which, as she said, was formed from wearing the ring on her hand for many years.

"But we've searched every inch of it, and we can't find it." The lady, upon hearing that it was a gift from the late emperor, knew that this matter couldn't be dealt with hastily, and was somewhat troubled.

"Find more! Go and get a few more lamps." Upon hearing Madam Fu's words, Madam Jiang instructed the maid.

So the maids bent over and searched back and forth twice more, but still found nothing.

Suddenly, Madam Fu's maid knelt on the ground.

“Mrs. Shen, please don’t let them look for it anymore. I…I just saw…where the ring is.”

Mrs. Fu seemed startled by her words, then said angrily

"What's wrong with you, girl? Since you saw it, why didn't you say anything? You made these young ladies bend over and search for so long, and you even delayed the ladies' banquet."

"The light was a bit dim just now, and I didn't know if I had misjudged, so I didn't dare to say anything. Now that the elder sisters haven't been found, I've dared to speak up." The maid's voice trembled slightly, as if she were very afraid.

"You silly girl, just say what you want to say. You're usually so straightforward and generous, why are you hesitating today? Tell me, where's the ring?" The lady who was on good terms with Madam Fu looked at the girl kneeling on the ground and said to her.

The girl kowtowed even lower, her whole body prostrate on the ground.

"Just now, Madam's ring fell onto the table, and I saw Miss Zhang reach for it." She then prostrated herself on the floor, trembling.

"The lighting was dim just now, and I wasn't sure if I was mistaken. But if I just... if I just look at Miss Zhang's purse, it will be clear."

As soon as she finished speaking, an eerie silence fell over the courtyard. The maid, lying on the ground, couldn't see Jiang's expression. Madam Fu, feeling smug, also ignored Jiang's expression. But Madam Zhou, who had always wanted to curry favor with the Shen family, had been watching Jiang's every move closely. Seeing her tightly furrowed brows, she knew that things were probably not going well today.

After a long while, someone finally spoke.

"Isn't this a bad idea?" The speaker was the lady who was on good terms with Madam Fu.

"Impossible! My sister Xia Xia would never take your things. You're framing her!" Shen Luo realized what was happening and immediately spoke up for Xia Yu.

“Why not? Has she ever seen anything of value bestowed by the emperor? You’re her brother, of course you’ll speak up for her.” Madam Fu’s daughter looked at Shen Luo smugly. Ever since she learned that neither of the siblings had any official rank in their family, she had disliked them.

"I just saw that girl take a ring. Should we search her first?" Xia Yu said calmly, pointing to the maid kneeling on the ground.